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Car-sharing service HiGear shuts down due to theft of 4 cars worth $400,000

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121–130 of 154 posts

Re: Car-sharing service HiGear shuts down due to theft of 4 cars worth $400,000

#121

I felt worse for these guys until I read to the end of the letter and found out about the "HiGear girls". It's not quite as bad as I thought because they don't seem to "rent out" these models like they do cars; I guess it was just a publicity thing. But still, having revealing pictures and even stats (measurements) of the women is pretty much the definition of objectification. FOLLOWUP (responding to comments): I'm n…

I like seeing racy pictures of girls as much as the next guy

Think globally, act locally, I say, and those look like women to me, and adults, not girls.

I think you have some work to do on your own before judging HiGear.

Re: Car-sharing service HiGear shuts down due to theft of 4 cars worth $400,000

#122
post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it makes it harder for people to accept their own non-ideal bodies as beautiful That's because usually (if not always) non-ideal bodies are not beautiful. I feel like there's a giant disconnect between people like you (sweeping generalization, no offense intended) and people around me. You see a girl with some extra weight and you may think she should ignore it, and hop on a computer. Here, most (yes, most) of the gi…

That's because usually (if not always) non-ideal bodies are not beautiful people have different tastes. just look at gay men and straight men. they find different things attractive. there is no perfectly sexy/beautiful type. it's all subjective. for every person, there's someone who thinks they are beautiful.

The statement that always throws me for a loop is, "Everyone is (physically) beautiful". Besides not making sense (right up there with "... and all the children are above average"), it seems irresponsible to actually embrace being unhealthy in the name of feeling good about yourself.

Re: Car-sharing service HiGear shuts down due to theft of 4 cars worth $400,000

#123
post #5

That's sad to hear, but I think he's right to realize that it's going to be really hard to deal with losses when the auto theft community gets wind of their business. I am always amazed by the efficiency and technological prowess that the kids I grew up with who steal cars apply to their trade (even if I wish they were involved in a better trade). One kid I grew up with now has a ring of six guys working for him, pay…

Do you actually need tech? I have locked myself out of several cars. It rarely takes me more than a few minutes to get back in, even if the best tool I've got is a tree branch.

Re: Car-sharing service HiGear shuts down due to theft of 4 cars worth $400,000

#124
post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's because usually (if not always) non-ideal bodies are not beautiful people have different tastes. just look at gay men and straight men. they find different things attractive. there is no perfectly sexy/beautiful type. it's all subjective. for every person, there's someone who thinks they are beautiful.

The statement that always throws me for a loop is, "Everyone is (physically) beautiful". Besides not making sense (right up there with "... and all the children are above average"), it seems irresponsible to actually embrace being unhealthy in the name of feeling good about yourself.

It's not the same as "all children are above average", since you're comparing a subjective evaluation (beauty) to an objective evaluation (e.g. reading skills). Neither am I saying that everyone is beautiful to everyone else, just that everyone is beautiful to someone.

After all, there are some niche tastes. Just look at the gay community whose tastes can range from Bears (big chunky hairy guys) to twinks (young skinny femmy guys). For straight male equivalents, look at BBW, to Asian, to MILFs, to femdom/dominatrixes, etc.

I am not advocating being unhealthy. There are many people who have a healthy lifestyle & fitness and body, and yet are not as skinny as many many models and 'attractive people'. The fashion industry does not promote healthy bodies.

Re: Car-sharing service HiGear shuts down due to theft of 4 cars worth $400,000

#125

I felt worse for these guys until I read to the end of the letter and found out about the "HiGear girls". It's not quite as bad as I thought because they don't seem to "rent out" these models like they do cars; I guess it was just a publicity thing. But still, having revealing pictures and even stats (measurements) of the women is pretty much the definition of objectification. FOLLOWUP (responding to comments): I'm n…

it makes it harder for people to accept their own non-ideal bodies as beautiful That's because usually (if not always) non-ideal bodies are not beautiful. I feel like there's a giant disconnect between people like you (sweeping generalization, no offense intended) and people around me. You see a girl with some extra weight and you may think she should ignore it, and hop on a computer. Here, most (yes, most) of the gi…

This isn't just a matter of girls who actually are kind of ugly having body image problems. That's still bad (they should value it less highly, they often underestimate how attractive they are, etc.)

But a lot of women, especially those around high school age, are just completely irrational in this realm. I know lots of women who are very attractive in conventional ways but aren't happy with their bodies. They think they're too fat because their stomach isn't totally flat, even though they look just as good as if they were that skinny, and they're only 5 or 10 pounds off. They think their breasts are too small. They fixate on small imperfections like a little bit of acne.

This all happens because society puts forward an airbrushed ideal of perfection that they're told to strive for even though it's totally unattainable. They see all of the small ways they could be better without taking a step back and realizing how attractive they really are. The fact that lots of men are interested in them doesn't convince them otherwise. They'll claim those men just like them because they're nice, or that the men are just interested in anyone who they think will put out, or some other mediocre excuse.

Re: Car-sharing service HiGear shuts down due to theft of 4 cars worth $400,000

#126

I felt worse for these guys until I read to the end of the letter and found out about the "HiGear girls". It's not quite as bad as I thought because they don't seem to "rent out" these models like they do cars; I guess it was just a publicity thing. But still, having revealing pictures and even stats (measurements) of the women is pretty much the definition of objectification. FOLLOWUP (responding to comments): I'm n…

> I like seeing racy pictures of girls as much as the next guy, but displays of women like this, especially right next to and in the same format as rental listings, encourages societal ideals that are at the root of most of the gender-related problems in our society Well, it can very easily go both ways. Just in the last week I was asked by 2 different women (rather smart, otherwise) about "how much I earn". I honest…

On the contrary, it does have significance. Middle-class women don't usually date lower class men. If you live in a country or area where the class divide is significant this will obvious.

The problem is not that they care about how much money you make, but that they were too clumsy on their "investigation".

Re: Car-sharing service HiGear shuts down due to theft of 4 cars worth $400,000

#127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have better alternative than jail when you are dealing with thieves? I guess 2x loss monetary fine could be a good replacement to jail time for first time thieves.

IMO starting with "what makes them steal" and fixing it, will deliver better results than, "how do we stop them from stealing anymore".

So if we determine that the main cause of stealing is thrill of highjacking the car and lack of empathy to car owner then the solution would be ... rewiring their brain?

Re: Car-sharing service HiGear shuts down due to theft of 4 cars worth $400,000

#128
post #118

They should remain in business, but add a fingerprint requirement. This would stop criminals from pretending to be law-abiding citizens. Documents and identities are easy to steal or forge, but in-person fingerprints that match those documents are much more difficult to forge. Edit: This is why background checks without fingerprints are not very meaningful. The check may be on a clean identity, not the criminal.

The costs of running a manned fingerprinting system would be pretty heavy and hard to scale, I imagine, not to mention inconvenient for users.

Without some skilled operator attending closely, there are all manner of ways to fake fingerprints on both electronic and traditional ink systems. If it's going to net you a $100k car, the incentive is probably sufficient that someone would do it.

Re: Car-sharing service HiGear shuts down due to theft of 4 cars worth $400,000

#129
post #71
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not many car thieves want to steal a Scion xB with a giant ZipCar logo on the side.

My understanding is (and I could be completely wrong in this) is that most low end cars are stolen for the parts, not the car.

Zipcar's all have remote kill functionality and the ignition is tied to the RFID Zipcard. It's likely not worth the effort to defeat the tech to get the end result. It would be for a $100k exotic.

Re: Car-sharing service HiGear shuts down due to theft of 4 cars worth $400,000

#130
post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because there is a long history of sexism like this (that hasn't gone away) and sometimes its hard to figure out what actions are ok and what are part of the ancient régime.

So, your solution is to ban women from being objectified, regardless of their opinion? Only women though, as they have a long history of being objectified.

Who said anything about banning women from being objectified?
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